Facebook: Hearth Vader
Facebook went into meltdown last week when a wood-burner shaped like Darth Vader’s helmet was released and drew more than 15m views. Created by Alex Dodson, the custom-made steel burner costs up to £300 — although the Barnsley artist has also made ones resembling other Star Wars characters, including Boba Fett and R2-D2. Watch the Darth hearth smoulder at tinyurl.com/darthhearth.
YouTube: Art and hole
Teachers running school trips to art galleries generally hope the pictures will make a big impression on their pupils. In the case of a visit to a museum in Taipei, however, it was the child who made the impression on the £1m painting — by punching a hole in it. It was an accident, of course — the 12-year-old boy had clearly been paying no attention at all to the art, as tends to be the case on such trips, and was merely trying to regain his balance after tripping. Thankfully Flowers, by the 17th-century Italian artist Paolo Porpora, was swiftly restored and the cost was covered by insurance.
Advertisement
YouTube: Sun-worship
When Kevin Miller took his drone for a spin in Rhode Island, the last thing he expected was to capture footage of a sunbathing monk lying on top of a wind turbine, some 175ft above the ground.
Twitter: Angela of mercy
When Germany tweeted last week that it would stop sending Syrian asylum-seekers back to the country where they had first entered the EU, Chancellor Angela Merkel will have expected howls of protest from the far right. However, she probably didn’t foresee the outpouring of love that also came her way — from Syrians. Overnight, social media was flooded with images praising Germany and “Mutti” in particular. Romantic poems were composed about the chancellor and superimposed, with images of her, on German flags. Many Merkel fans vowed to thank their “saviour” personally, with one gushing: “We love you.”
Advertisement
Twitter: Barking up the wrong tree
One dog had its day when photos of it stuck in a hedge and apparently grinning — despite being stranded high above the ground — took Twitter by storm. See the cheerful Japanese shiba inu in action at tinyurl.com/
hedgedog.
Leaf Arbuthnot and James Sutton